Copenhagen: Dialogue on the situation in Guatemala

(DanChurchAid, translation to English by Lone Hvass)

20. October 2003

On Monday, October 20, 2003, a forum on the situation in Guatemala held in the premises of the daily newspaper Politiken drew a full house, disappointing many people who had not booked in advance. The meeting had been arranged by DanChurchAid and four other Danish organizations in collaboration with Politiken and dealt with the current political situation in Guatemala which is marked by upcoming elections and the registration of ex-dictator Rios Montt as presidential candidate.

A well-prepared panel including two Danes and two Guatemalans covered a wide range of issues from the current situation, political violence and daily human rights violations, to the question of impunity and consolidation of the rule of law in a country where 30 people were killed in the month of September alone – daily.

Both Guatemalan panellists, Claudia Samoyoa and Iduvina Hernandez touched on the ‘secret forces’ that operate in Guatemala, controlled by ex-members of the Military and an economic power elite that use ordinary criminals as well as organized criminal networks to do their dirty work such as killing members of the political opposition or smuggle drugs.

‘The worst thing about the situation is that the violations that take place are directed against the core of our democracy, leaving no room for political and democratic manoeuvre; leaving people fearful of expressing themselves in public. We are talking about a really serious setback for the human rights situation. Demobilization of the Military is contained as a formal provision in the Peace Accords in 1996, but it has never happened’, said Claudia Samayoa, independent human rights researcher. She also said that political violence has increased over the past three years with attacks on the opposition, on journalists and basically anybody using their freedom of speech. She mentioned a concrete example of a woman journalist who has written on the subject of human rights for several years.

‘Within the last year she has received death threats in anonymous letters, anonymous telephone calls in the early morning, her family and children have been kidnapped, while her cat has been beaten to death and dumped on her doorstep. Her home and her office have been scandalized several times by unknown perpetrators,’ Claudia said.

Iduvina Hernandez, Director of SEDEM, an association for studies to promote democracy, painted the ‘hidden powers’ as a monster with many heads and said that the entire state in Guatemala is controlled by these hidden forces.

‘They are groups that operate in secrecy and whose members include many ex-members of the Military that have forged alliances with political and economic elites as well as with the Army itself. They have also created links with groups of criminals, in many cases they actually control these and command operations to threaten, intimidate and kill human rights activists,’ said Iduvina Hernandez.

She sustained that the greatest challenge for human rights defenders in Guatemala is to disclose and identify the individuals that wield power in secrecy.

Judge of the National Court (judicial instance right below the Supreme Court) Stig Glent-Madsen who is also Chairman of the Board in DanChurchAid and who has travelled widely in Guatemala, said that the phenomenon of impunity is very peculiar in the case of Guatemala.

‘Impunity in Guatemala is peculiar because crimes are committed by those in power and hence there is no criminal investigation. Impunity in Guatemala works as the law of the jungle embedded within the law of the jungle, because the independence of the justice sector is not guaranteed, and there is widespread corruption in the justice system. This way, those who can afford it can buy themselves free of legal investigation and punishment. Within such a system, the weakest part of the population is bound to succumb’, said Stig Glent-Madsen who also urged that all powers be used to strengthen civil society and the human rights movement in Guatemala.

Journalist at ‘Horisont’ ( Horizon, a Danish, televised current affairs programme) Jørgen Laurvig who has spent two years in Guatemala working for IBIS, thought that the Peace Accords from 1996 were very ambitious because they try to secure the political, economic and social rights of Guatemalans while also referring to the creation of a real democracy and national reconciliation.

‘To try and achieve national reconciliation in a country where the winning party never acknowledged that he did something wrong is impossible. In Guatemala, the demands of the victims have never been addressed, and this is outrageous,’ said Jørgen Laurvig, indirectly referring to the fact that the Peace Accords also contemplate a criminal investigation of massacres and genocide perpetrated during the armed conflict. Such an investigation would entail the possibility for economic and moral reparations to the victims’ families.

‘During the first six months following the Peace Agreement optimism was enormous in Guatemala. Since then, it has been a safe and slow detour,’ said Jørgen Laurvig, who mentioned land registration, fiscal returns, education and public health as important areas of the Peace Accords in which no progress has been made.

‘At the same time, Guatemala has a Military that is six times the size of the Danish Military, and contradicting the Accords, the military budget has steadily increased’, said Jørgen Laurvig.

The occasion for staging a meeting on Guatemala in Copenhagen is that on November 9, general elections will take place in this country where according to the UN Mission to Guatemala charged with peace-building, MINUGUA, the human rights situation has steadily deteriorated over the past three, leaving an atrocious death toll of political opponents and human rights activists. Adding insult to injury, the official ruling party FRG or Guatemalan Republican Front, has manipulated the Constitutional Court into accepting former dictator and perpetrator of coup d’etat, Efrain Rios Montt, as official candidate for the Presidency. Previous rulings had impeded his candidacy on the grounds that he had orchestrated a military coup d’etat.